Battle Mii

Everything Nintendo has done in the past 10 years seems to have led to this. The Wii U, the name for the Japanese new console, is a mix of reaction to the rise of iPad gaming, the growing diversity of consumers and the experience developing for the Nintendo 3DS. It looks to be that one console that hopes to unite the two separate factions of the market — the hard-core gamers and the casual player.

I had some hands on time with the controller. (The specs and software of the system including Nintendo’s online strategy are still a mystery.) In next generation, the power behind the hardware seems secondary to how players interact with the system. The hard-core will like the dual analog sticks, buttons and the triggers on the device.